Meyer on Schiano: ‘I stand by my coach’

Urban Meyer addressed the Greg Schiano situation on Monday at his weekly press conference at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.

One day after reports circulated that Tennessee would hire Ohio State’s defensive coordinator and then a social media firestorm led to Tennessee backing out of the deal, Meyer said he supports Schiano.

“He’s an elite person, an elite father, an elite husband, an elite friend, an elite football coach,” Meyer said. “I stand by my coach. I just don’t know enough. It’s not fair to my players to make any more comment than that because we have a huge game this week.”

This is Schiano’s second season as Ohio State’s defensive coordinator. He shared the job with Luke Fickell last season. Tennessee fans protested the hiring of Schiano because of his connection to the Jerry Sandusky scandal at Penn State.

Schiano spent time as an assistant coach at Penn State in the 1990s. Court documents released in 2016 revealed testimony that Schiano might have known about Sandusky’s abuse of children. Schiano denied any knowledge.

Meyer said he talked to Schiano several times about the situation.

“The one thing about coaching is it’s got to be a perfect fit,” Meyer said. “Maybe it wasn’t. I’m certainly not saying that. Move on and keep swinging as hard as you can. You’re at a great place.”